WACO, Texas- Continuing a season-long 11-game home stand, Baylor welcomes Dallas Baptist to Baylor Ballpark for a 6:35 p.m. CT contest on Wednesday. The Bears are 5-3 in midweek games and have won two of their last three games at home.

After beating Dallas Baptist twice last season in the Waco Regional to advance to the Waco Super Regional, the Bears and Patriots will square off for the first time since. BU has won four straight against DBU and owns a 43-21 all-time edge in the series, including a 32-15 advantage in Waco.

All Baylor baseball games are broadcast live on Waco's 1660 ESPN Radio. Tom Barfield provides the play-by-play with Lark Smith adding color commentary. Live streaming audio and GameTracker also are available for all Baylor baseball games online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the CBS College Sports Network.

BAYLOR TAKES HOME OPENING SERIES FROM K-STATEBaylor won a very competitive three-game set against Kansas State in its Big 12 home opening series over the weekend as the three games were decided by a total of four runs. Baylor has won eight of the last nine games against K-State but Thursday’s 3-2 loss snapped BU’s six-game series winning streak. The series win gave the Bears their 14th in 17 all-time series against K-State as BU improved to 41-18 all-time against the Wildcats, 25-4 in Waco and 40-17 under Steve Smith.

In Friday’s 10-8 13-inning win, Baylor used heroics from Grayson Porter, who hit a two-run game-tying homer in the eighth and a two-run game-winning homer in the 13th. BU overcame three- and two-run deficits in the game and then overcame a three-run deficit on Saturday to win 7-6.

BAYLOR VS. DALLAS BAPTIST SERIES HISTORYBaylor is 43-21 all-time against Dallas Baptist, 32-15 in Waco and 14-7 under Steve Smith. BU has won four straight in the series and won both games last season in the Waco Regional. The Bears won 9-2 on June 3, 2012 and bounced back with an 8-2 win on June 4, 2012 to move to the Waco Super Regional.

BAYLOR VS. WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCEBaylor is 210-78 against teams that are current members of the Western Athletic Conference. The Bears own a winning record over all five teams they have played from the WAC: UT Arlington (80-30), Texas State (48-18), Dallas Baptist (43-21), UT San Antonio (29-6) and Louisiana Tech (10-3). The Bears are 3-1 against the WAC this season with wins over Texas State and Louisiana Tech (2) and a loss to UTSA.

PORTER NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEKGrayson Porter was named Big 12 Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday, marking the first such award for the junior outfielder and third BU weekly conference accolade this season. Enjoying breakout week, he hit .375 (6-for-16) with eight RBI, four runs, two homers, two steals and a double to compile a .813 slugging percentage and .368 on-base percentage in four games.

With an RBI in all four games during the week, Porter started off with a 2-for-4 game last Tuesday against UTSA as he had a double, run scored and RBI. In Thursday's series opener against Kansas State, he had a sacrifice fly. He then erupted on Friday, hitting a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning and a walk-off two-run homer in the 13th. His 3-for-6 day produced five RBI, two runs scored and a steal. His hit, homer, run, steal and RBI totals were all career highs. The two homers were the first by a Baylor player this season and since Logan Vick did so on June 9, 2012 against Arkansas in the Waco Super Regional. The five RBI were the most by a Baylor player this season and since Max Muncy did so against Kansas State on March 24, 2012. Porter ended the weekend on Saturday by going 1-for-3 with a run scored, RBI, walk and steal.

Receiving the most playing time of his career this season, the Linden, Texas native has a career-high 12 hits, 12 RBI, 10 runs and four homers, which lead the team and rank fourth in the Big 12.

NEWMAN STEPPING TO FRONT OF ROTATIONBaylor’s newfound ace Dillon Newman (3-2, 2.42 ERA) has been nothing short of dependable through seven starts this season. He’s given up more than three runs just one time, has a one-hitter under his belt and has allowed just two walks in 44.2 innings. His 0.47 walks per nine innings ranks sixth in the NCAA, 0.67 WHIP is fifth and 13.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio is fourth. Newman has thrown six or more innings five times and seven or more four times and has yet to throw over 100 pitches in a start.

GARNER MAKING MOST OF MOVE TO ROTATIONBaylor’s closer last year, Max Garner (1-3, 4.15 ERA) has stepped into the rotation with success as he’s given up more than three earned runs just one time in his seven starts, doing so in his last against K-State (3 IP, 6 ER). Three times he’s thrown more than six innings and twice he’s thrown more than eight, including a nine-inning no-decision. He’s logged over 100 pitches four times.

BULLPEN TRIO SHARING THE LOAD SUCCESSFULLYThree arms out of the Baylor bullpen have really picked up solid innings as Crayton Bare, Josh Michalec and Ryan Smith all have over 20.0 innings and ERA under 4.00. Bare sports a 2.83 ERA and has more strikeouts (25) than hits given up (24) in 28.2 innings, the most of any BU reliever. Over his last 17.2 innings, he has not given up an earned run while allowing 11 hits and striking out 18. Michalec owns a .220 batting average against and is 3-1 with a 3.05 ERA in 20.2 innings. He has not given up and earned run over his last 16.0 innings while surrendering eight hits and striking out 11. Earning his first three wins of his career this season, his last was most impressive as he threw 5.1 shutout innings on Friday against K-State and allowed just one hit and walk with three strikeouts.

Anchoring the back of the bullpen has been Smith, who has 17.1 innings of relief. Take away his emergency start in the first game of the season (2.2 IP, 5 R), and he is 1-1 with a 1.56 ERA and five saves out of the bullpen. As a reliever, he’s holding opponents to a .140 batting average and has given up eight hits while striking out 11. His career-high five saves rank second in the Big 12.

ORF GETTING ON-BASE AT HIGH RATENathan Orf had reached base safely in 15 straight games before failing to do so on March 15 against New Orleans. But he has reached base safely in 26 of 28 games this season and has a 10-game hitting streak for the second time this season. The only other game he did not reach safely in was the second game of the year on Feb. 16 at UC Irvine. He has had a hit in 24 games this season and has a team-high 11 multi-hit games. He recently picked up his 100th career hit on March 19 against Sam Houston State. He ranks fourth in the Big 12 in on-base percentage (.476), fifth in hits (40) and sixth in hitting (.381).

LANGFORD EXTENDS ON-BASE STREAK TO 19Lawton Langford has eclipsed Nathan Orf’s on-base streak set earlier this season (15) with a 19-game run of his own to raise his on-base percentage to .396. In 26 games this season, Langford has failed to reach base safely just one time, and that was on Feb. 24 against UCLA when he came in as a sub for one at-bat. During the streak, he has 18 hits, 13 walks, 13 runs, seven RBI, four HBP and two steals.